Lumbar disc prolapse often causes severe low back pain. The disc often presses on a nerve root which can cause pain and other symptoms in a leg. In most cases, the symptoms ease off gradually over several weeks and painkillers may help. Surgery may be an option if the symptoms persist. Objective: To evaluate the outcome of single level unilateral first time discectomy (unilateral not bilateral annular incision to reduce risk of recurrence) in lumbar disc prolapse in patients with bilateral sciatica with or without dominant side. Methods: This is a prospective study of forty five properly selected patients with lumbar disc prolapse underwent single level unilateral first time discectomy with bilateral foraminotomy from June 2009 to August 2012 in Benha university hospital and Mabarra hospital and all patients had positive straight leg raising test (SLR) sign and a prolapsed L4-5 or L5-S1 disc on MRI. Dennis pain scale used preoperatively and one year postoperatively to evaluate the efficacy of discectomy and the functional outcome. .Results: One year post operatively, no pain (P1) achieved in 34 patients (75.55%), 7 patients (15.55%) had Occasional minimal pain; no need for medication (P2), 4 patients (8 .88%) had moderate pain, occasional medications with no interruption of work or activities of daily life (P3) Conclusion: This technique achieved satisfactory high neurological results with no serious postoperative complication. The patients given postoperative single dose of narcotic analgesics, all left hospital within 24 hours and returned to their work within 4-6 weeks.
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